FRED KOENEKAMP

Born: 11 November 1922, Los
Angeles, USA, as Frederick James Koenekamp, son of Hans F. Koenekamp [1891-1992], one of
the film industry's pioneer spec pfx experts.

Died: 31 May 2017, Bonita Springs, Florida,
USA.

Career: Served
in the US Navy during WWII. 'I
had planned to go to the University of Southern California, where I had begun
classes before I went in the service, but a job opportunity came up as a camera
loader at RKO Studios. I
was 23 years old and decided I probably shouldn't spend another two or three
years at school. I took the job and fell in love with the movie industry. There
were no young cameramen in Hollywood in those days. They were all older men, and
from the stories I heard, no one had been promoted to first cameraman in ages.
There were five or six cameramen on salary at RKO, including Robert
De Grasse and J. Roy Hunt. After a couple of years, there was a lot of excitement because Joe
Biroc was promoted to first cameraman.
It was tough being a younger crewmember, because the work wasn't steady. You
would get laid off in-between films. It was kind of hard in the beginning, but I
got used to it after a couple of years. I got a job as a camera loader at
Technicolor for about a year, and then RKO called me back as an assistant
cameraman. I did a picture with a cameraman named Harry Wild. It was called 'Underwater!'.
I was taught how to do underwater camera work, including scuba diving. The
timing couldn't have been better because MGM was just getting started with a
series of films featuring Esther Williams. They needed an assistant cameraman
who could do underwater work. I went to MGM anticipating a month's work, and
ended up staying there for 14 years. I did many pictures as an assistant
cameraman. I worked with Joe Ruttenberg and other great cameramen. They
eventually moved me up to operator on 'The
Brothers Karamazov'.
[…] What happened was that feature work had slowed down, so I took a job as an
operator on [the tv-series] 'Gunsmoke'.
One day [in 1963] I got a phone call from the MGM camera department. They asked
me to come over and meet Norman Felton, a producer who might be interested in
making me a first cameraman on a television series called 'The
Lieutenant'. It turned out that he had a new show coming up called 'The
Man from U.N.C.L.E.'
I worked on that show for about four seasons. It might have been the best break
in my life. That series was fun to shoot, and it gave me a chance to experiment
with lighting and other things.' [From the KODAK OnFilm website.]

'Mr.
Fred Koenekamp's camera has
moved slowly from walls [for the small screen] to 'monoliths' [for the cinema
screen]. The 'monoliths' have been 'Patton' [in the form of George C.
Scott], 'Kansas City Bomber' [in the form of Ms. Welch], 'Papillon',
'The Towering Inferno', 'Doc Savage', et cetera, et cetera. With
all this in his way the concept of 'painting with light' doesn't stand a
chance.' [Tise Vahimagi in 'Film Dope', #31, January 1985.]